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Pain Perdu with Poached Pears and Rhubarb Sauce

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Pear and rhubarb share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 33 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 10
Prep30 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Also mentioned in the method: bread

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Peel the pears, leaving stems on, and set them in a wide pan. Pour in the rosé wine and 400g/14oz caster sugar, then add enough water to cover. Simmer gently for about 20 minutes until tender, turning once. Stir in the eau de vie de poire (or calvados) if using, and let the pears cool in the syrup.

  2. Trim the rhubarb and cut it into short lengths. Put it in a pan with 150g/5oz caster sugar and a splash of water. Cook gently for 8 to 10 minutes until soft, then blend or mash until smooth. Keep warm or chill.

  3. Whisk the eggs, 300ml/¼ pint whole milk, 50g/2oz caster sugar and the vanilla extract in a shallow dish until combined.

  4. Cut the sandwich loaf into thick slices. Soak each slice briefly in the egg mixture until saturated but not falling apart.

  5. Melt about a third of the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Fry the soaked bread in batches for 2 to 3 minutes per side until golden and the egg is set through, reaching 160°F (71°C) in the center. Add more butter as needed.

  6. Dust the pain perdu with 50g/2oz icing sugar. Serve with drained poached pears and the warm rhubarb sauce, garnished with fresh mint leaves.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Pear + rhubarbtop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together33 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  2. Pear + vanillatop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together334 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  3. Milk + vanillatop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together19,175 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  4. Milk + buttertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together81,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together35,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and vanilla share little aroma chemistry, yet 35,031 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the vanilla

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wine, sugar, pear, egg, milk, butter, rhubarb):

  1. Vanillathe original
  2. Appleabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against wine, sugar, pear, egg, milk, butter, rhubarb. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).